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2015 Giro d'Italia: Contador loses race lead as Porte's horror week continues

Richie Porte could be on his way to BMC. (Photo: Graham Watson - grahamwatson.com.au)
Editor
22nd May, 2015
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Fabio Aru is the new leader of the 2015 Giro d’Italia, after a crash near the end of Stage 13 cost Alberto Contador precious seconds, and all but ended Australian Richie Porte’s slim hopes of overall victory.

Friday’s stage was pancake flat, a day the general classification contenders were supposed to take it easy and allow the sprinters to battle it out.

But the reality is there’s no such thing as an easy stage in a Grand Tour, and with the rain falling the peloton needed to be on their toes.

As much was proven when, just outside 3 kilometres to go, there was a crash, which saw a large portion of the peloton – including Contador and Porte – caught behind.

Aru was lucky enough to be ahead of the drama, and stayed with the pack to cross almost 40 seconds ahead of Contador, who after going down in the crash sprinted for the line, determined to limit his losses.

Contador is now in second place, 19 seconds behind the young Italian. It is the first time in his career that he has lost the race leader’s jersey at a Grand Tour – since 2007, whenever he has taken the lead, he has kept it until the end.

Porte, perhaps seeing his Giro dream in tatters, lacked Contador’s urgency, and peddled to the line in an extremely reserved fashion – although there is speculation he was on a teammate’s bike, which was too large for him.

There was a substantial wait between the peloton crossing the finish line and the race commissaires revealing the day’s GC standings. While a crash in wet weather is hardly controversial, that the crash had occurred just outside the 3 kilometres was significant.

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Within the final 3 kilometres any rider caught up in a crash is given the same time as the stage winner. As such, there may have been a debate as to whether the peloton were within – or at least close enough to – that magical mark to allow Contador, Porte and the others caught up in the crash not to lose any further time.

And while giving the affected group the same time would have perhaps been the sporting thing to do (it was at most 200 metres out, on a 147-kilometre stage), the race commissaires have given themselves little wiggle room on showing discretion in the name of good sportsmanship, having docked Porte and compatriot Simon Clarke 2 minutes each for their illegal wheel change on Stage 10.

Between the 47 seconds Porte lost on the road that day, the further 2 minutes he was docked, and now the Stage 13 crash, he has gone from third place and right in the hunt for the overall win on Tuesday, to 16th, 5 minutes and 5 seconds behind race leader Aru on Friday.

As a result, his Sky teammate Elia Viviani, who is wearing the red jersey as leader of the sprinter’s category, speculated on Eurosport that perhaps there would now be a shift in team strategy, and he would receive more support since the Tasmanian’s overall ambitions appear over.

Saturday’s individual time trial was supposed to be the day Porte, the reigning Australian time trial champion, put time into his main rivals, and perhaps even slipped on the Maglia Rosa. Now it is a chance for him to show what he’s made of. With the time trial almost 60 kilometres long, he could claw back a few minutes on his rivals and perhaps finish the day back in the top 10.

But maybe, after the week he’s had, his heart is simply broken.

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